Abstract [en]

The Swedish property stock constitutes two-thirds of the Swedish national wealth and the value of the commercial real estate stock can be estimated to 3 200 billion SEK. One of the most important professions to maintain an efficient commercial real estate market is the real estate manager. This caused Aff – “Forum för förvaltning och service” to introduce a professional certification for real estate managers by the end of 2010.

The main purpose of this thesis is to analyse where the certification is on the market and how the future will look for the certification. Furthermore, the purpose is to establish the demand and need among different market actors. The purpose of the thesis is also to clarify the structure of the certification and examine the current format. To analyse this, the authors have conducted interviews with eleven companies operating in the real estate market. Professor Stellan Lundström and doctoral student Sigrid Katzler from KTH have also participated in interviews. Several different drivers have been studied in order to analyse the long-term demand and need for a professional certification for real estate managers. These drivers can for example be to create a competitive advantage, raise the competence level or to raise the entry barriers for the profession.

The empirical study revealed that the interviewed companies had little knowledge of the certification. Although the knowledge in general was modest, there were three of the interviewed companies that had certified real estate managers. There were different opinions concerning the need for a certification. Three of the companies explicitly claimed that they did not see any need, several of the companies expressed that the certification could bring advantages. The companies expressed a difference in the competitive advantage the certification could bring for companies that own real estate and for service firms. The competitive advantage to market the certification towards the customer was believed to be much greater for the service firms. Most of the companies thought that the certification could be used as a mean to increase competencies for the real estate managers. The certification was also thought of as a mean to create a unanimous definition of the real estate manager. Finally, all of the companies as well as Katzler and Lundström considered the disposition to be relevant although some of them expressed that it could be divided into different levels.

The conclusion is that the general knowledge is rather modest and that Aff have an urgent need to market the organisation and the certification. This would also contribute to Aff’s legitimacy. The study indicates that the customers of the companies that own real estate are not going to demand a certification as much as those of the service firms. However, further study is needed to confirm this.